New things to eat and drink

In my last blog "Changing what I like to eat" I said that I now have a vast range of foods I enjoy eating – many more things than in my pre-Nutracheck days. And what I am eating and enjoying so much is interesting, not high in calories, and is helping me to maintain my weight. I did mention three things I had come to love eating – porridge, persimmon and Alpro yoghurt – but people have asked me to write a bit more about new things I am eating and drinking, so here goes.

The first thing to say is that I am not talking about very expensive things or very obscure things. In fact some are totally ordinary things that I have eaten, but never really fancied much until fairly recently, such as...

Carrots Never my favourite vegetable, but now I enjoy eating them raw in salads, or in large quantities stewed in lemon juice, stock and herbs.

Apples I don't know what I always had against apples, but I am now making up for lost time! I have them chopped in lunchtime salads and fruit salads, but they also go into a lot of dinner dishes. For example, sliced into red cabbage, curries, stir-fries etc.

Red Cabbage I hardly ever ate this until a year ago, and now it is one of my favourite vegetables, stewed with leeks, apples (see above) and cumin. I even avoid the traditional red cabbage problem of wee on the next day, because I'm colour blind!

Aubergine It doesn't taste of all that much on its own, but it's very useful when slowly stewed, because it goes quite thick and has a sort-out meaty feel in the mouth, for very few calories.

And then there are things I have started to eat or drink that I have rarely if ever eaten in my life...

Pak Choi A sort of small lettuce like plant, nice in salads as a change from regular lettuce.

Beetroot This is raw beetroot, not the pickled stuff. I do have it grated and raw in salads, but it really comes into its own, stewed as a vegetable. It needs to be cooked a long time, but it's worth it. And even my colour blindness doesn't fully protect me the next morning from beetroot the evening before!

Mussels I can't be bothered with the shells, so I buy them ready-shelled. They are perfect in a seafood dish – flavourful and very low in calories.

Nanny State An amazing alcohol-free beer, which is not only very low in calories, but which has a very interesting and convincingly beer-like flavour.

And there are two other things which, to be honest, may be harder to find...

Kangaroo Kangaroo is slightly chicken-like, but much tastier. It is low in calories, and I use it where I would otherwise use chicken – simply grilled, or in a casserole. We tasted it first in Australia, but now it is becoming available back here.

Hare Our very latest discovery! We had an honoured guest last weekend, and I cooked a hare casserole. Hare has quite a strong flavour, a bit like venison, and I used other strong flavours with it, including thyme, garlic and prunes. We all liked it, and it's a great addition to the list of foods I will enjoy cooking and eating.

These are just a few examples of new things I am now eating and enjoying. The whole point of this blog is to suggest that if I – who is 65 years old and who has always been an adventurous eater and a keen cook – can discover a big and interesting range of new foods, then anyone can! There is an amazing variety of food and drink in the world, and a lot of it is not at all high in calories – it's well worth being a little adventurous and seeing what's out there.